


Moonflower Confession

by StephirothWasTaken



Series: Steph's 25 Days of Christmas Fics Challenge [3]
Category: Final Fantasy XV
Genre: Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, F/M, Female Noctis Lucis Caelum, Genderbending, Getting Together, Love Confessions, Male-Female Friendship, Someone should stop the author from making titles ever again, Sort Of, Tattoo, summaries too
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-12-03
Updated: 2019-12-03
Packaged: 2021-02-25 23:08:34
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,627
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21663460
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/StephirothWasTaken/pseuds/StephirothWasTaken
Summary: Noctis returned home after years in a bad relationship, and Gladio has a big tattoo that he keeps avoiding talking about. She finally gets him to answer her, and she isn't expecting what he says.
Relationships: Gladiolus Amicitia/Noctis Lucis Caelum
Series: Steph's 25 Days of Christmas Fics Challenge [3]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1559509
Comments: 2
Kudos: 26





	Moonflower Confession

**Author's Note:**

> This one is not really a Christmas- or Winter-themed story. I’m using this month as an excuse to post a bunch of my discarded AU ideas, honestly.
> 
> For some context, it’s an AU where female Noctis gets married to a guy who was abusive to her (it’s loosely based on something that happened to a real family member of mine), she eventually manages to escape her situation. In the end, I completely scrapped this idea because I liked it better as an original story.
> 
> I hope you enjoy!
> 
> Update: Whoa. AO3 added a bunch of HTML I had not asked for. I apologize if any of this is formatted weirdly. I am painstakingly going through it to correct it, but some of it is not fixing no matter what I do. Ugh.

Noctis was grateful to have so many good friends in her life. She was grateful to have Gladiolus now living with her. With Prompto gone on a special trip with friends he had made at school recently and Ignis busy doing smart person business things, it was nice that she did not have to be alone in her too-big apartment with her recent breakup still fresh on her mind. Even if he was not as boisterous and energetic as Prompto, she was glad to still have someone to cuddle next to while watching movies.

She also didn’t mind that he was practically a space heater in the middle of Winter.

“Gladio, could you hand me the remote please?” Noctis asked.

“Yeah.”

Part of Noctis hoped he never found out that Noctis loved to watch the way his muscles moved while he did anything that required movement. Gladio maintained a perfect physique. He came from a family that had long held the tradition of being protectors for her family. As children, Gladio had said many times he had no interest in upholding that tradition himself, but Noctis had been hurt in a freak accident. His opinion on the matter had changed, and he had worked hard to be the Shield tradition told him to be.

Gladio plopped the remote in her hand, and then he draped his massive arm around her. He jostled her enough to make her feel a slight ache in her hips, which had been sore since she started taking fitness classes at Gladio’s insistence. Noctis could feel the weight of his hand on her hip, and she wished it was more than a friendly gesture. She settled herself against his side, and she used the remote to browse through TV shows for them to watch together.

“Is there anything you’ve been wanting to watch?” Noctis asked, not wanting to leave him out of the choosing process.

“Nah, can’t think of anything.”

Noctis loved the way his voice vibrated through his chest as he spoke, and she pressed her lips together to keep herself from sighing in satisfaction at it. Her cheeks felt so warm, and she hoped he could not see any redness to her cheeks.

Noctis looked through the movies. She added a few terrible ones that she thought she and Prompto would love (and hate) to watch together, but with Gladio, it was much different trying to choose a movie for the both of them. He was so much more difficult to please when it came to fiction, and documentaries were not her thing.

“You can watch whatever you want, Noct,” Gladio said. “I don’t care. Just pick something.”

Noctis huffed, and she dug her elbow lightly into his stomach.

“So impatient,” she said.

“I know what you’re doing. Just pick something.”

“And what exactly am I doing?”

“Worrying too much.”

Noctis pouted at him, but she buried herself deeper into his side.

“Fine,” she said, “I’ll find the worst movie I can, and you’re just going to have to deal with it.”

Gladio chuckled, and he gave her hip a firm pat. She wanted to rest her hand over it, but that felt like crossing a boundary she was uncertain she wanted to cross—or Gladio wanted to cross.

Noctis settled on a horror movie, one she had already watched with Prompto, and she knew that he would hate it. She snuggled into him, smirking as she imagined the complaints he would have about the movie. He settled himself deeper, and he put his bare feet on the coffee table, crossing them at the ankles.

That tattoo on his calf caught her eye again, the moon one with the flowers. Noctis fought the urge to reach out and trace the lines of it with her finger. She wanted to know if there was a special meaning behind it beyond it looking so beautiful, but he had acted so weirdly about it the last time she had brought it up that she was afraid to make their evening awkward.

About a quarter of the way through the movie, it startled Noctis when Gladio burst into raucous laughter at the main protagonists stumbling and falling through one of the most poorly choreographed stunts they had ever seen.

“What the hell was supposed to be going on there?” Gladio said.

“They’re running away from the monster, duh.”

“That pile of rubber skittering on the ground?”

“It’s a scary bag of flesh, Gladio.”

“Ooh, right, super scary.”

Toward the end of the movie, Noctis was sprawled across Gladio’s lap, and they were both laughing at the stupidity of the movie.

“I can’t believe someone actually put money into this movie,” Gladio said in between hysterical laughter.

“Dude, it was like two million dollars that they put into this.”

“Two million? Are you serious?”

“Yeah, Prom and I were looking into it, and the director was stupid-loaded with cash, and he dumped so much money into it just to get it finished.”

“Did he think he was making a good movie?”

“Oh, yeah. Yeah, he most definitely did.”

“By the Six, that’s hard to believe.”

Noctis chuckled, and she buried her face into his thigh. She was feeling tired already.

“Thank you,” she told him.

“Huh?”

“For watching this with me.”

“Well, I kind of like you, so I don’t mind spending time with you.”

“Only kinda?”

“Just a little bit.”

Gladio squished Noctis between his thigh and his chest as he reached over to grab the remote, and he turned off the TV.

“I’m hungry,” he said. “How about you?”

“I could have a little snack.”

Noctis went to the kitchen with him, and she was pleased that he kept his pace slow for her as they walked. Neither of them spoke much. She blamed the sleepiness for her silence, but Gladio had always been the more introverted one of the two of them. He was so much more people-friendly than she was, but he needed his moments of quiet more so than she did.

Noctis supposed that might have been because she spent much of her childhood cooped up in the Lucis Caelum manor while Gladio’s family had given him more freedom than she had ever had.

When they made it to the kitchen, Noctis stayed near the door as Gladio rummaged through the top cabinets to grab the “good snacks” that Ignis, the apparent health freak, kept hidden on the higher shelves.

Noctis got a look at the full tattoo on his calf. It was so pretty. She really hated that she had no idea what the meaning behind it was.

“You never told me what that tattoo means,” Noctis blurted, all worries of ruining their evening temporarily forgotten. “The really pretty one on your leg.”

Gladio glanced over his shoulder at her. She might have been mistaken, but he might have looked apologetic.

“Yeah” was all he said.

“Oh.”

Some tension built up in Noctis’s stomach as she realized she had ruined their nice evening, just like she had feared.

“I mean,” she added, “if you don’t want to tell me about it, that’s okay.”

“You don’t get a big ass tattoo without wanting to talk about it.”

Gladio brought over a handful of snacks for Noctis to choose from. It was all chocolatey deliciousness, which Ignis would berate her for if he caught her eating them, but chocolate snack cakes would be taken off the menu when she was a cadaver.

“Remember how I said the flowers were moon flowers?”

“Yeah?”

“They’re flowers that only open up at night when the moon’s out.”

“There are flowers like that?”

“Mm-hmm, and think of someone I know who might remind me of the night sky?”

Noctis’s eyebrows came together.

“Me?”

“Yeah, I got this tattoo the day you left with that guy.”

Noctis stared at the tattoo as Gladio went to the refrigerator to grab something for them to drink.  
“You got a big-ass tattoo about me?”

“Yeah, I did.”

“Why?”

Gladio only chuckled.

“It’s not because of the whole Princess and Shield thing, is it? Because that’s not been a thing for two hundred years.”

“Nah, it’s not that.”

“Then, what is it?”

“It’s not important anymore, Noct.”

It took a great deal of effort not to pout at Gladio for not answering her.

“What does that mean?” she asked.

“You came back, and now I have a pretty tattoo on my leg that symbolizes you. That’s all that means.”

“You got it because I left?”

“I got it because I wasn’t sure if you were coming back.”

Noctis’s frown deepened, and she shook her head. She just thought about what he was trying to say. He poured soda into two cups—root beer for himself and cream soda for her.

“I didn’t like that asshole even before you went off with him,” Gladio said. “I knew he was trouble. When you stopped answering our calls, I was angry. When investigators couldn’t find you, I was in—in mourning, I guess you could say. That’s when I got the tattoo. Prompto had already designed it, so I just took it and got it done.”

Noctis felt a pang in her chest at that. She had already known that everyone had been worried that she was dead, but hearing that Gladio had already been in _mourning _made the situation feel so much worse.__

____

____

“Like I said,” Gladio added. “It’s not important anymore because you’re here.”

The two of them went to the breakfast nook with their drinks and snacks, but there was now a somber atmosphere between them, making them eat in awkward silence. The snack cakes and cream soda did not taste as good as she expected it to.

“I’m sorry,” Noctis said. “I didn’t mean to—"

“Don’t apologize, Noct. None of this was your fault.”

“I still don’t understand exactly why you got a tattoo for me. I mean, it’s such a big tattoo. It’s—I don’t—Your camellia tattoo isn’t half as big—"

Gladio let out an exasperated sigh, and she flinched, which Gladio did not react to.

“It doesn’t matter,” he said.

“But it—it feels like it _does_ matter.”

“Noct—”

“Please, stop lying to me. Ever since I’ve come back, it feels like nobody wants to treat me like an adult, and I just— It’s so vexing that you’re doing it, too. I thought out of everyone you wouldn’t do this to me, but you are. And I—I can’t stand it anymore. And it’s over a damn tattoo.”

Gladio laughed, and Noctis felt her throat close up. She snapped her mouth shut, and she felt her face go hot.

“I’m sorry, Noct,” Gladio said, “for laughing, but you just surprised me.”

Noctis just turned her gaze away from him.

“So, you really want to know, huh?"

“You don’t have to tell me.”

Gladio reached across the table, and he sandwiched one of her hands, which was sticky from the snack cake, between both of his.

“I haven’t wanted to say anything because I don’t want you to feel pressured to do anything.”

“I trust you.”

“I had Prompto design that tattoo for me long before I had any idea you were dating anyone, Noct. I had him do it because I love you—not just as a close friend but as in—” The tips of Gladio’s ears turned red. “—as in romantic love.”

Noctis’s eyebrows rose to her hairline, and her jaw went slack.

“Romantic love?” she repeated. “You’re in love with me.”

“Yeah, and I think I always have been. It took me a while to realize it, but I got there.”

“Oh, shit.”

Gladio laughed. He brought her hand to his face, his beard scratching against her skin, and he kissed the back of it before setting it on the table, continuing to hold it while his calloused thumb rubbed the back of it.

“That’s almost exactly how I expected you to react to that,” he said.

“I’m sorry, but that’s nowhere near what I expected you to say.”

“Yeah, but don’t worry about it now. You already have a lot on your plate.”

Noctis looked at their hands joined together on the table, and a heavy feeling settled in her chest. The voice of her soon-to-be-ex-husband still floated in her head from time to time: she was too fat for anyone else to love her—too boyish, too thin, too annoying, too many things she was still struggling to distract her mind from obsessing over.

Ever since Noctis had hit puberty, Noctis had found herself staring too long at Gladio, admiring him as he grew into a strong, confident man that she had both envied and been attracted to. She had always hoped he would be as much in love with her as she had grown to be, but he had always been dating someone else, never looking at her in the way she had wanted him to. Considering they had grown up together, Noctis had always thought he had considered her his annoying little sister.

But apparently, he had _always been in love with her,_ like someone from one of his stupid romance novels.

Noctis laughed, and she glanced up at Gladio, covering her mouth in a vain attempt at suppressing the laughter. He quirked an eyebrow up at her.

“What are you giggling about?” Gladio said.

“Sorry. It’s just that I just realized that this is like a dumb romance. I come home after a few long years of abuse, and then the man I’ve been in love with all this time tells me he has been in love with _me_ all this time.”

Gladio’s face softened as she spoke, his eyes filling with sadness, and he nodded. Noctis felt a swelling in her chest, and tears heated her eyes despite the laughing.

“I mean,” Noctis continued, “why were we so stupid? We were in love with each other this whole time and we just kept dating other people. That’s so stupid.”

Noctis’s laughter turned into sobs.

“Ah, Noct!” Gladio spluttered.

“I’m sorry,” Noctis croaked in between sobs. “It’s just been a really rough couple of months.”

“There’s nothing to be sorry for.”

Noctis gave his hand a squeeze, and she dabbed a napkin over her tear-stained face as her sobbing calmed. He let her lift his hand to her face, and she pressed a kiss to his knuckles.

“I wish I could say that I’m ready to take our relationship to a different level,” she said, “but my head is still really messed up. It wouldn’t be fair to either of us if we started dating now.”

“I’m not going anywhere, Noct. There’s no reason to rush into anything. "

Noctis watched Gladio’s face, and she only found the familiar warmth she realized he had always given her—even before she had gotten married. Her shoulders lowered as she felt relief wash over her.

“Thank you,” she said, voice coming out quieter than she had intended.

Gladio nodded. He kissed the back of her hand one last time, and then he released it to collect their trash.

“How about we do something together to work off all of this sugar?” he suggested.

“That sounds like you’re going to make me run for an hour,” Noctis teased.

“Well, if that’s what you want to do.”

“Oh, Gods, please, no, I’m still sore from those fitness classes you made me go to yesterday.”

Gladio chuckled. He threw their trash away, and then he turned back to Noctis, offering her his hand. She took it, and he helped her stand.

“I was thinking we could play a game or two.”

“Yeah?”

“Yeah, or whatever you want to do.”

“I like that idea a lot better.”

**Author's Note:**

> This was originally an alternative for another AU of mine, and Noctis was in a wheelchair. I edited all of that stuff out, but I’m a bit paranoid that I might have accidentally left some of that in there.
> 
> Thank you so much for reading! Let me know what you think! Comments, whether praise or criticism, kudos, and subscriptions are all deeply appreciated.  
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> 


End file.
